Estibot Question - Google vs MSN

[coolbreze]

Let me make one thing clear - I am not bashing Estibot - just asking a few questions!!!

Does anybody know why sometimes Estibot will return "Frequency" from Google and other times (less often) returns "Frequency" from MSN? I don't believe that I have ever seen a result returned that referenced MSN for "Frequency" that was anything more than "Reg Fee", and it is always 0-0-0 for PPC/OV/WT. And if you search the exact keywords in quotes at Google you get results, with ads, etc. Has anybody else taken notice to this? The other part that troubles me is why or how does the script that Estibot uses determine if its going to reference Google or MSN? I could type in certain keywords on different days and no matter when I do it Estibot uses MSN for those keywords, yet try another set and surprise its using google again. Of course if you search crappy keywords it does not matter what is used Google or MSN, and yes I have done that as well, but this is not always the case. Maybe I am crazy, maybe I am mistaken, then again maybe not. The other issue is (and this happens more frequently than any of us know) Estibot will return the "appraisal" and show that the domain in question is already taken (extension does not matter as it has done this for most ext). And while I know some of you are sitting there thinking well you should always check your registrar, and of course I agree, that is how I realized that this was happening.

I realize that it is a free service, and I should take it as such and stop complaining, but I can't. If I had the know-how I would develope a site to give all the particulars about a domain in question searches, frequency, ppc, OV, WT, Trillian etc., but NOT A $VALUE. Personally, I would pay a monthly fee for a service like this to have all things in one screen (and be reliable).

Any thoughts?

 

[estibot.com]

The answer is relatively simple. Both Google and MSN will block my website if a certain quota of calls is exceeded. That's why I have to alternate, and whenever possible I also use database driven systems with historical data that, while not up to date, is close enough for basic domain research. Every single search costs me money, and I have programmed the thing to try to find the cheapest way of producing data for each domain.

The bottom line is, this service is expensive to maintain. As long as it's free it will be limited. As long as I break even, the service will keep running. Even that may require paid subscriptions soon. Ironically, the more popular it gets, the closer I'm getting to making a serious loss each month.

As for setting up a website like you suggested, with Trellian, WT, PPC, Google....well, good luck. It's very expensive. It would take a lot - a lot - of subscribers paying hefty monthly fees to break even. But hey, figure out the funding and I'll do the coding for you